Skip to content

apple II

Digital Native

Sometimes people ask me when I learned to use computers. I sort of shrug, because I consider myself to be a digital native.

In the mid 80’s my brother was doing things with computers and telephones. I didn’t quite understand at the time, and right now I still don’t quite understand the advanced networking that he does, but I am comfortable and competent in my own way. 

I can’t really remember a lifetime before computers. I remember typewriters but I hardly used one after I was 10. I remember my brother’s middle school English teacher freaking out that he used a word processor to write an essay, she thought the word processor wrote the essay for him.

Apple 2 with two floppy disc drives

This machine did not write essays but it did launch careers.

I love that October 16th is Steve Jobs day because October 16th is also my brother’s birthday. Both are kind men who look amazing in black, both are brilliant but my brother… well, everything about him makes me smile.